Dell has launched three cloud-oriented servers as part of a broader approach to cloud computing.

The models, which are part of Dell's PowerEdge series, are aimed at organisations that want to run cloud applications and are competitive with providers such as Amazon on price, according to Dell data centre marketing manager Andy Rhodes.

"Amazon EC2 is great for batch work, but in a permanent state can be costly," said Rhodes, who added that compliance obligations can also push public-cloud bills up.

The PowerEdge C6100 has four motherboards in the chassis, making the server more compact, said Rhodes.

"It's to drive up the density of how much computing power you can fit in a rack," said Rhodes, saying that this led to lower datacentre costs.

The PowerEdge C2100 is designed for businesses which use web analytics. The PowerEdge C1100 has slots for up to 144GB of RAM per single rack unit and is designed for memory-hungry web applications, said Rhodes.

Dell enterprise chief information officer Paul Prince told ZDNet UK that the servers have other cost savings, including fixed rather than removable fans.

"The PowerEdge C series are purpose-built servers, brought to a wider audience," said Prince.

The servers are available through Dell's sales teams in the UK, France, Germany, Holland, and some other EMEA channels from Thursday, said Rhodes.

As part of its cloud strategy, Dell on Thursday announced its Dell Cloud Partner Program. Software from Canonical — the organisation behind the Ubuntu operating system — as well as software by Astor Data and Greenplum, will be sold by Dell in "solution blueprints and deployment guidelines", said the company. Cloud data-analytics, self-service data-warehousing, and infrastructure-as-a-platform products will be included in the "cloud blueprints".

Dell also announced on Thursday that it would begin selling cloud-provider Joyent's web application product for companies that want to build their own private clouds. Joyent's software will power Dell's Cloud Solution for Web Applications, which is designed to allow businesses to deploy a private cloud, using the Joyent software.

Tom is a technology reporter for ZDNet.com, writing about all manner of security and open-source issues.Tom had various jobs after leaving university, including working for a company that hired out computers as props for films and television, and a role turning the entire back catalogue of a publisher into e-books.Tom eventually found tha...
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